Hawks finish with a flurry to end CSU's unbeaten start to the year

The Hawks won all four quarters and finished with a flurry in their 11.9 (75) to 4.7 (31) Farrer League win over the Bushpigs at Gumly Oval on Saturday.

In a game with a strong breeze to one end, the Hawks managed to win both quarters against the wind narrowly and then did some damage with it to claim their first win over a finalist from last season.

EWK full-forward Jarrad Boumann was the difference in the early stages as he booted three of the game's five goals to half-time.

CSU simply were unable to make the most of their chances with the breeze. They were wasteful in front of goal in the first term and then didn't use the ball well enough in the third term.

When Ollie Wortley kicked the first goal of the final term, the Bushpigs did draw within 14 points but the Hawks responded with six of the next seven goals to post a resounding win.

EWK coach Jake Barrett acknowledged that the Bushpigs took a bit of beating.

"Early on, it was a tug-o-war definitely," Barrett said.

"CSU set themselves up really well early on, especially with the wind, I know it was a very windy day but I think both teams really utilised it at the start when they were going with it and set themselves up really well behind the footy to keep getting the re-entries inside 50.

"The second time we went against it, we managed to kick through it a little bit more and actually found a couple of goals that really helped us and that last quarter being able to go with it again.

"CSU really showed up today and I think we all know that CSU are going to be there at the end of the year. They've shown that they've got a good quality group there."

Barrett also acknowledged the work they did to stay in the contest against the breeze had a big influence on the final result.

"I reckon we just got a little bit lucky in the first quarter, they were just inaccurate in front of goal and we've done that over the last three weeks," he said.

"We definitely played each quarter differently, in the way that we set up, and we were just fortunate enough to be able to get up in those two quarters but once you had that breeze it definitely helped.

"In saying that, it was a great game and I know the score in the end, we had a bit of a margin there, but it definitely wasn't the case for the whole game, it was a tight game and it was good to see our boys keep improving."

Barrett, who has been back coaching from the bench for the past two weeks, is happy with the improvement he has seen.

"I think the positive thing about us was, especially in the second half, we finally saw a bit of a product of what we can do, we started to play the way our game plan is set up and once we got those handball chains going, even against the wind, it worked really well," he said.

"I think a lot of it is tidying up those fundamentals as well, once they all started to click it was good footy to watch at times but once again, I think that's going to be most of the year against these teams, it's going to be a tug-o-war at times but you've just got to stick to your structures, stick to your game plan and back what the coaches have got."

Dylan Morton and Jerry Maslin continued their strong starts to the season with big games in the midfield for the Hawks.

Boumann had a big influence on the contest with his four goals, while Jeremy Piercy also became a factor the longer the game went on.

The only sour note was a knee injury to Nick Vawser.

For CSU, Lachie Holmes, Trent Cohalan and Wortley led the way and worked hard through the midfield all day.

Full-time

EWK Hawks 2.0 4.5 5.9 11.9 (75)

CSU Bushpigs 1.4 1.5 2.7 4.7 (31)

GOALS: EWK Hawks: J.Boumann 4, J.Piercy 2, B.Argus 2, R.Bourne 1, C.McPherson 1, H.Leddin 1; CSU Bushpigs: O.Wortley 2, H.Wakefield 1, P.Inglis 1

BEST: EWK Hawks: D.Morton, J.Maslin, J.Boumann, M.Dryburgh, J.Piercy, J.Hughes; CSU Bushpigs: O.Wortley, T.Cohalan, J.Mason, D.Rogers, W.Archibald, L.Holmes